How to manage the widening gap in data skills

More data has been created in past few years than in entire history of humankind, leading to an unprecedented digital data explosion worldwide. Many of the bigger companies have already invested in or are in the process of investing in the harnessing of this big data. However, today, companies are finding it increasingly difficult to turn all that data collected into valuable and useful information that will aid them.

A key obstacle is the lack of people with the right analytics skills. To leverage big data, companies will have to overcome the skill gap existing in today’s talent market. This requires not just investment, but also co-operation and communication between various players in the big data field. You need to take steps to make sure the boundaries of your businesses aren’t limited by the widening gap in data skills.

When assessing today's widening skills gap, it all comes down to the equation between basic supply and demand. Some of the ways by which businesses can help in closing the skills gap are-

·  The collaborative partnership between companies and universities is  increasingly becoming pertinent in the current scenario. Offer to partner with colleges and work with their students to help them learn about the challenges in the field of data analytics.

·  You might already have people on your team who have the skills for big data analytics. Keep your eyes open for people who have an understanding or affinity for analyzing data results, and encourage employees who are interested in big data.

·  Invest in automation and new technologies might cost initially, but ensuring the of availability best technology to hire and train staff will serve you in the long haul. Companies should also automate most of their routine processes in data analytics to save money and effort.

·  You should offer salaries that are competitive with what they can command in other sectors. The widening gap can also be attributed to the unwillingness of employers to pay attractive price for the skills they require.

·  The business ecosystem concept is gaining renewed attention in the age of data explosion. Co-operation and co-ordination with other players in the business ecosystems can be used to facilitate innovation, and to solve wider problems in the field of big data analytics.

Big Data is big news. It is the next big thing that is set to revolutionize the way you approach and conduct business. The biggest challenge facing most organizations with big data initiatives is the skills gap. At this juncture, most businesses would probably benefit by combining several of the above approaches to solve the data skills gap. The aim of every organization should be to facilitate a fully functioning analytics program in place. By being foresighted in your policies, persistent in your approach and sensitive to the demands of the labour market, you can definitely succeed in finding the right mix of people for your data analytics team.

Supporting your communities’ small business ecosystem

The unhindered entrepreneurial spirit of small business owners and the passion of the community members must be moulded into an everlasting partnership that is beneficial for both. In their co-operation and collaboration lies the well being of a community and its people. A community should support local small businesses and recognize the role they play in strengthening its economic performance. They should connect them with resources to help them grow beyond the boundaries of the community, while keeping the jobs within it.

Exploring the entrepreneurial communities’ activities across the spectrum will provide insights into what it takes to sustain the effort of building a partnership between the both. Fortunately it doesn’t require a great deal of funding as the resources needed are already present in the community. A clear focus on funding, training, and financing for small businesses will go a long way in strengthening the collaboration. The key components to creating a successful entrepreneurial ecosystem are:

·  Creating a steady supply of skilled workers

·  Cultivating technology exchange and innovation

·  Access to funding

·  Promoting awareness and building networks

·  Optimizing the regulatory policies

It is important to work towards an inclusive ecosystem for the businesses and their owners to grow and thrive. You should provide technical assistance and skills training, increased access to affordable capital, and help to create an entrepreneurial environment that also focuses on innovative solutions to the region's problems. Universities, venture creators, supply chains and job-training programs are more likely to contribute to a regions’ prosperity when they are networked and encouraged to work in tandem.

Enhancing the collaboration among these institutions can enrich the business ecosystem, catapult ideas, create job-creating start-ups, help companies find skilled labor and nurture innovations. In order to generate a growing community, it is important that you get the leaders involved, cultivate your local and global networks, and work together. It is imperative to provide the community as well as the business owners the opportunity to get to know one another and strengthen their networks through various events.

Every community has merits that are core to its success and contributes to the economic progress. The community’s leadership must unleash this potential and connect them to their community’s growth model. Strong universities and a vibrant startup community are drivers for the growth of any community. A growing community today, should create the right support network for small businesses and entrepreneurs to flourish and  allow them to take the many steps that will ultimately create the change in their lives.

Crowdfunding: Finding the best Platform

One of the earliest instances of crowd funding of a project can be traced back to the year 1884, when the Statue of Liberty first arrived in USA. At the time, the pedestal it stands on today hadn’t been built. Entrepreneur Joe Pulitzer asked residents of New York to donate towards the cost of constructing it in exchange for a mention in his paper. Donations poured in from big business to school children and the target was met. The format, over the years, has undergone changes, spreading with the rising popularity of internet, and has moulded into a popular model which helps with the raising of funds.

Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising monetary contributions from a large number of people, today often performed via internet-mediated registries. In recent years, more and more platforms and websites have been launched, all offering crowd funding in one way or another. These websites allow people to raise funds for everything from real estate, charity, schools to business. These crowd funding sites give entrepreneurs a wide choice of options on  not only for fund raising but also a platform for their campaign.

But the wide spectrum of options bring along with it the predicament of choice of which platform is best for budding entrepreneurs. To determine the most suitable crowd funding source for your idea, here are certain points you should keep in mind -

·  Type of product and its current stage

       The type of product you create will determine where you can go for funds. Another factor that will influence is what stage your project or product is currently in. Taking an unrefined concept or an unpolished idea to crowd funding sites will not give you any leads.

·  Funding history of the site

       You should see if similar products have been funded and how it successful it was. You need to be sure the platform caters to your product and target audience before starting a campaign.

·  Funding Model

       Crowdfunding sites run either rewards, donation, equity, lending or hybrid-based funding models. Having a clear idea of how each one works and how it would impact your business is of primary importance.

·  Reach of the platform

       These platforms are usually the first interface in your marketing process. The communities developed on these platforms can play an important role in the campaigning of your products

·  Cost-Benefit Analysis

       Cost-benefit analysis of each site should be done to see which platform suits you the best, your reasonable profit margins with the campaign, time frames that you can meet etc.

Crowdfunding has become the way to raise money for all kinds of projects, especially since the onset of digital era. Businesses, nonprofits, artists, and entrepreneurs in all sectors have succeeded in running startup funding campaigns on the many crowdfunding platforms available. There is no denying the huge amount of money that crowdfunding can raise, but it might not work for every project. Many entrepreneurs have failed, because they didn’t fully understand the implications, got their data wrong or didn’t chose the correct platform. You need to be well informed and well prepared. Only by diligently doing home work, gathering necessary data and proper in-depth analysis will you be able to assess the workability of using crowd funding for your business, and successfully finance your dreams into a reality.

Nurturing business ecosystems to deal with industry uncertainties.

‘Nothing is permanent but change’ might be an old adage; yet, always relevant in the world of business and entrepreneurship. The changes in the business  ecosystem is constant as well as inevitable. If you've been a part of the business environment, you will know that at any moment of time, circumstances can change and unforeseeable events can occur. There is no doubt that even though as entrepreneurs you desire to control your circumstances, uncertainty is unavoidable in business.

The conditions may seem unfair and daunting, but remember that most people in the ecosystem will be exposed to the same effects as you. Economic conditions, shifts in customer behaviour, political changes, changes in policies etc are some of the many uncertainties that are bound to affect the businesses. While there is no way to predict the future, you can always make smart choices and prepare well to deal with it. Some of the ways to stay strong against the winds of uncertainties that might be blowing in your direction are -

·  Rather than trying to make one guess as to what will most likely happen, focus on multiple scenarios. Place many small bets on a variety of options so that you are prepared for most circumstances.

·  Encourage the flow of ideas. Brainstorming about potential changes stimulates understanding about what to do under nearly any circumstance.

·  There will always be certain predictable or calculable elements in any of the situations and it would be helpful to find and target them.

·  Provide certainty of process to the stakeholders and employees. Even if you can’t tell people exactly what the outcome will be, you can always provide clarity about the situation when information is provided.

·  The support that peers and partners provide during the unstable times will be the backbone of your recovery process. The best investment you can make for future stability is building relationships.

·  Don’t fixate just on the final outcome of the project, but take into account the quality of the process that went into its planning, preparation and execution. The lessons from each process that you have done will prepare you for the future.

·  Be flexible and agile to the changes happening around you. Empower your  organization and your people to act swiftly and decisively in the face of any impending change.

No doubt, to face the industry uncertainties you have to prepare for failure, success, and everything in between that two ends of the spectrum. Focus on doing the right thing and understand the ecosystem in which your company lists in.  Having a clear idea of a company’s space in its ecosystem can help forecast its market strengths and challenges during a change.

As with the fact that nothing endures, the uncertain times will also pass. What marks the difference between your business getting stuck in the uncertainty and emerging triumphant, is whether the management communicates, improves, engages, invests in relationships, and remains true to values and ethos of the company. An uncertainty can also be viewed through the prism of opportunity. Adopt an attitude that accepts and welcomes change as the stepping stones for future opportunities in your business and entrepreneurship.

Social innovation and business ecosystems

As the world takes leaps in modernization and technological advances, so rises the social and environmental risks plaguing today’s societies. Nations around the world are increasingly waking up to the fact that these pressing concerns need to be addressed immediately. The business world is also taking note of the risks and opportunities posed by social and environmental issues. More than just an opening for charity, social innovations are today viewed by businesses as about competition and economic value creation. 

The 2015 Harvard Business Review ranking of the top 100 performing CEOs in the world weighted social and environmental performance at 20% of the overall score, a fact that reinforces the importance of social innovations in business in the modern world. It is time to break through the traditional business mindsets, strategies and business models. Business is about reinvention, day after day, and it is imperative that they should inculcate practices that will allow it to rise above profit making and view the world from a socially responsible context. At this juncture, Corporate Social Innovation(CSI) offers new perspectives, models and tools for addressing some of the greatest challenges plaguing our time.

• CSI as a part of the core business strategy - Determine the social problems that intersect with the business and the vision of the company. CSI must be approached as an intrinsic company policy and should be seen as any other core business strategy. Businesses should have the game plan to unlock the value of their products and services to address key societal and environmental challenges. It must be noted for sustainability, CSI which is incorporated into the business must generate value for the business too. The value should be in revenue as well as a positive change for the world around.
  
• CSI as a positive influence in the market - Social innovation can be viewed as an opportunity to serve the unmet needs in various markets with new or existing products or services. The products cannot be marketed or offered as to existing customers. Barriers that a target base would face such as affordability, product education, and local customs must be considered and incorporated into the product/service. CSI often helps in access to new markets or consumers, additional revenues, strengthened supply chains, reduced costs or managed risks.
  
• CSI as a strategic collaboration - Conversation about innovations should not be limited to those inside the company but should be a product of bringing together multiple stake holders, in particular from outside the business, which can yield powerful results. The benefits include better local knowledge,
  

broader perspectives, consideration of the opportunities and risks and a better development process. Local employment and local economic development will help in creating a positive impact for the product as well as the society.
An effective government and business leadership that engages in social innovation will become the driving force towards achieving public welfare of GCC States. The need to design innovative business models and the significance of social innovation should be considered as a systematic commitment towards achieving GCC goals. Social innovation can be the spark that will find common ground for shared value creation and better the life of those in the bottom of pyramid. Without a doubt, tomorrow’s world will be very different from today’s and businesses should experiment with new models and strategies. Moral, ethical, social and environmental concerns will lead the way in the coming years in which key stakeholders, including consumers, customers, employees and investors, relate to and engage with business.

Healthcare moving from technology-enabled diagnosis and treatment to positive patient experience

The industrial economy where the focus stopped with the ‘product’ has slowly shifted to service economy, where the focus extends to the ‘customer experience’ of that product. This change has started its emergence in health sector too, where, the patient experience and satisfaction are considered central in determining the quality of the medical care imparted. The field of medical science passing through doctor centric, hospital centric and disease centric has today reached the threshold of being patient centric.

A patient centric strategy has pushed the leading health care organizations to make the shift from an episodic care to an extended and continual engagement with patients. The use of patient portals and access to electronic record leads to an increase in communication between the hospitals and patients. Health organisations are today increasingly looking at population health management, as a part of this continuous engagement. Similarly, health care delivery models need to change to reflect the patient centric care.
Most health care organizations are realizing that patient-centred care improves patient experience and creates value for services. When administrators, care providers, technology, patients and families work in sync, the quality and safety of health care rise, costs decrease and satisfaction increases. All this directly affect the boosting of patient care experience. A domino effect, it then positively affect business demographics and market share.
Key strategies from organizations working on patient-centred care include :

• Policy makers and regulators should include patient-centred care as a dimension of quality in their business strategy and policy documentations.
  
• Standardised set of items in patient survey tools will enable the comparison of patient experience data in key healthcare settings.
  
• Ensure that systems are in place for the regular collection and reporting of patient care experience data through quantitative as well as qualitative sources. Patient surveys is an important aspect to get the feel of patient experience.
  
• Health service action plans for quality improvement, along with clinical and operational data should also take into account the feedback about patient care experience.
  

• Positive patient experience revolves around the relationship between health providers and their patients. The relationship between a patient and his/her doctor greatly determines both treatment outcomes and a patient’s satisfaction.
  
• Involve patients, families and carers, in the development of quality improvement policies, patient safety initiatives and healthcare design.
  
• Implement training strategies focussed on building the capacity of all staff to support patient-centred care.
  
• Integrate accountability for the care experience of patients into staff performance review processes.
  
• Foster a culture of learning within the organisation of learning from successes and failures, including tragic events, to promote patient-centred care.
  Patient experience is woven into the healthcare scenario today, more than it ever has. In this new era of health reforms, organisations will have to consider the patient as central to their core strategy and take patient engagement to a whole new level for their successful operation. Focus on patient feedback along with giving them continual care will be essential to monitor and improve the health of the people. The shift from an era of treating diseases to engaging with patients, is essential for not just the successful operation of health care facilities but also for wellness, prevention, better clinical outcomes and helping the population maintain a healthy life.
  

Identifying a right investor for your dream project

As you start taking the first steps in the world of entrepreneurship, as your dreams take wings and ideas shift towards reality, the initial challenge of any new business is to find the right investor. For a budding entrepreneur, the first instinct is to accept the cash from wherever it is coming from. Entrepreneurs looking for investors often feel they can't be selective. 

Unfortunately, many later realise that this approach is in the wrong direction. It’s important to understand the impact that the right kind of funding can have on the trajectory of your company in the future years.
A wrong or an unsuitable investor can pull you in the wrong direction, whereas the right one will add value to your team and help you in your journey towards your goal. An investor should bring much more than cash to the table. It is important to consider what are the added benefits that you would receive from a particular investor. It may vary from expertise to access to new markets and that added value of the investor can be the difference between your business remaining a chimera and being an operational entity.
It is, hence, important to ask the following questions before you zero in on an investor for your project -
• What are your options - Different investors can execute different goals. For most businesses, however, the first conversations would be with angel investors rather than venture capital firms. Angel investors tend to be flexible on their initial requirements while VCs want concrete data before they back you.
• What can the investor bring to the table - You should be aware of the assets and advantages that different investors can provide. Investors are more than just someone providing money. They have experience as well as practical know-how about businesses and can help you manage your capital, your infrastructure and much more.
• Where do you find the right investor - Finding the right investor for your company is the first step in realizing its vision. Hence, it is crucial that you know how to connect with them. Today, there are many platforms available that will aid you to find and communicate with potential investors.

• How does your investor fit with the company - Your potential investor should be compatible with your company culture. Your visions should be in sync and you want partners who would provide direction without interfering in every decision you make.
• How involved do you want your investors to be - You should have a clear ideas on what the role of the investor should be. It should be clearly communicated and agreed upon. Knowing your investor’s level of involvement ahead of time prevents future conflicts.

Other core factors you should take cognizance of, when it comes to potential investors, include their area of focus, their reliability and their reputation. Finding the right investor is the most important step in your entrepreneurial journey. It is a relationship that you have to engage with every day, in the years to come. Choose wisely. Ask questions and do research to select the best investor your company can get. A willing patron and wise mentor who can be the backbone of your company, will go a long way in helping your business prosper.